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LIBERTY MEDIA PURCHACES RACE OF CHAMPIONS, PREPARATION RAMPS UP FOR THE 2023 ROC RETURN TO GRAN CANARIA.
“Hey Chat, where’s Gran Canaria?” Lando skimmed the story on his timeline before studying the messages scrolling across his screen.
“’Ask Carlos,’ is it in Spain then? Uh…’Canary Islands, Spain,’ okay, okay.” He pressed unmute on discord.
“Carloooooos, are you competing in Race of Champions next year? It’s in Gran Canaria.”
“Eh, hold on, on a lap.” Lando switched to spectator so he could watch onboard.
“Lovely first sector, Carlos. Little wide out of turn 8 though.” Lando commentated, earning an annoyed ‘aye’ from his former teammate as he concentrated on the final sector.
“What is Gran Canaria?” Charles cut in as he finished his time, shooting to the top of the table.
“It’s one of the Canary Islands in Spain. Everybody knows that,” Lando answered, watching as Carlos slid ahead of Charles on the timings by .07 of a second.
“I’m surprised you know that, Cabrón,” Lando can hear Carlos’s smug smile, and Charles mumbles something about ‘just practice’ in the background, “I didn’t think you were very good with geography.”
“Well, I am. I’ve studied, and now I’m amazing at geography.” His voice was matter of fact, even managing a note of petulance. He winked at his stream as a flood of ‘FRAUD, LIAR, OMG LANDO’ messages filtered across the screen. “Did you know Race of Champions is going there this year? Are you going to compete?”
“I actually did know this, yes. I have nothing to announce just yet…”
“But…?”
“But, Lando, mi padre is considering competing, so he will need a partner for Team Spain.”
“You should definitely do it!”
“Lando, are you going to do any practice laps at all-“
“Not now, Charles, this is more important. Carlos, you could actually win it if you enter with your dad. Imagine.”
“Eh, I don’t know about that. There’s a lot of rally drivers that go, they will probably be quicker.”
“Yeah, but you have a rally track in your freaking backyard! And it’ll be in your home country. You have to do it. Chat, don’t you think he should do it?”
“How do the teams work for Race of Champions?” Charles asked.
“It’s two per country,” Carlos answered, and Lando watched on his screen as he returned to the pits, waiting for the practice session to end. “There’s a group competition and a solo driver competition.”
“Hmm…so I would need to find another Monegasque to drive with me if I wanted to enter?”
“YOU are going to do Race of Champions?” Lando interjected, pulling up the Wikipedia page for past ROC winners. “You’re not a rally driver, mate.”
“Neither is Carlos!”
“Lando, why don’t you do it? You could partner DC or Chadwick.”
“Um, already did it.”
“What?” The practice session timed out and the qualifying session began to load. Lando minimized the game to continue reading about ROC.
“Uh, yeah. I partnered Coulthard in 2018. Apparently, you didn’t watch though.”
“No! Surely, I did. Did you never mention this before?” Carlos sounds dumbfounded, as Charles cuts in, “How did you do?”
“Terrible. I lost all of my solo runs and put it in the wall. Carlos, your dad won the whole thing in 1997 in Gran Canaria!”
“Yes, he has told me.”
“Chat is saying you have to do it, Carlos. That’s the people saying that.”
“I’ll make you a deal.” Their qualifying session on iRacing had started but only Charles was on track. Lando continued to scroll through ROC news from last year’s event, glancing over at Carlos’ onboard where his former teammate’s car continued to sit in the pits. “If you participate for Great Britain, I will talk to Carlos Sr about it.”
“Mate, they probably won’t even want me. I really was not great last time.”
“Yes, but you were in F2 then, no? You’re a Formula 1 race winner now. I think you will do better than you think.” Carlos’ car still hadn’t moved, and Lando was just watching it, rubbing his chin as he considered. “You can come practice in my backyard if you are so concerned. I can give you tips, eh? Just like old times?” If waggling eyebrows had a sound, it was the tone of Carlos’ voice in that moment.
“Hmm, careful what you offer, you’re aiding the competition.” But Lando couldn’t suppress the smile that spread across his face, and stuck his tongue out at the flood of hearts and exclamations pouring down his screen from Chat.
“Happily. You’ll need all the help you can get to compete with the great Spanish rally drivers, eh?” He could hear the return smile in Carlos’ voice, and watched his car finally exit the pits.
“So, it’s settled,” interjected Charles as he completed his first quali lap, topping the session. “We all three will do Race of Champions this year.”